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Our 5 Favorite Things from Ikea’s New Catalog

Ikea’s first new-year catalog is more than 50 items deep and includes lights, storage, baby toys, rugs and a weirdly hyped-up set of motorized blinds. Here are the highlights.

Rabbla Storage Boxes

The last thing anyone thinks about when moving into a new place is small-scale storage — a place for shoes, toiletries, Legos, towels and so on. These minimal, dirt cheap, soft-sided canvas storage containers come with bamboo lids and look good enough to place pretty much anywhere.

Kongstrup High-Pile Rug

This is the ideal first-apartment living room rug. It’s small enough to accommodate your small first apartment and cheap enough so that you aren’t heartbroken when someone spills beer on it. Plus, the colorblock is an easy way to ensure your apartment isn’t all grey, black and navy.

Rönninge Chair

This is a very simple, very affordable mid-century table chair. Unlike many of Ikea’s other table chairs, the frame here is made of solid wood — birch, to be specific. It comes in green, black or natural (type the name in Ikea’s search tab to find the others).

Nordmela Drawers

This piece is classic Ikea. An inexpensive, low-profile piece of furniture you don’t have to spend a paycheck on. The version pictured can be slotted in front of a bed or against a wall; it can act as a bench, too. A taller version ($199) is available with a small hanging rack.

Fyrtur Power Blinds

Ikea continues its steady march into smart home tech with the addition of smart blinds to the new-ish category. Fyrtur, which isn’t available on Ikea’s website yet, is rolling out to stores in the US now. Lower or raise the blinds with the touch of a wireless remote or with your own voice. Exact pricing information isn’t available, but they retail for around $135 in Europe.